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IW\L]IR 

PERSOiMIFTCAllON  OF 
SOUL  AND  BODY 


The  Library 
University  of  California,  Los  Angeles 


gift  of  Mrs.  Cummings,  1 963 


REPRINTED  FROM  THE  JEWISH  QUARTERLY  REVIEW 

NEW  SERIES 

VOLUME  II.  NUMBER  4 


PERSONIFICATIONS  OF  SOUL 
AND  BODY 


BY 


PROF.  HENRY  MALTER 


PHILADELPHIA 

'HE  DROPSIE  COLLEGE  FOR  HEBREW  AND  COGNATE  LEARNING 

1912 


PERSONIFICATIONS  OF  SOUL  AND  BODY 

A  Study  in  Judaeo- Arabic  Literature^ 

By  Henry  Malter,  Dropsie  College 

JudaEo-Arabic  authors  are  very  fond  of  variously 
personifying  the  human  body  and  soul,  both  separately  and 
in  their  relations  to  one  another.  The  instances  are  so 
numerous,  the  sources  from  which  the  various  personifica- 
tions are  to  be  collected  so  widely  scattered,  and  the  aspects 
under  which  they  were  conceived  so  manifold,  that  the 
writer,  working  without  a  sufficient  library,  must  at  once 
surrender  his  ambition  of  giving  an  exhaustive  study  on 
the  subject.  Aside  from  some  casual  remarks,  no  attempt 
has  hitherto  been  made  at  gathering  and  grouping  the  ma- 
terial according  to  some  principle.  The  following  may  be 
taken  as  a  modest  beginning  in  this  direction. 

The  subject  is  closely  connected  with  the  general  idea 
that  the  universe  and  man  are  parallel ;  that  whatever  is 
found  in  the  world  without,  in  the  macrocosm,  is  reflected 
or  finds  its  counterpart  also  in  the  man,  the  microscosm. 
This  doctrine  is  very  old,  being  traceable  not  only  to  Pyth- 
agoras and  Plato  (Munk,  Guide,  I,  354,  n.  i),  but  also  to 
the  oldest  Babylonian  lilterature  (Hugo  Winckler,  Die 
babylonische  Knltur,  Leipzig  1902,  p.  33).  The  Talmuds 
and    Midrashim    afford    numerous    instances    of    analogies 

I   See   this   Review,    191  i,    p.    459,   n.    12,   471,   n.   42.      A   preceding  study 
belonging  to  p.   457,  n.   10,  is  soon  to  appear  elsewhere. 

453 


209G44"6 


454  THE   JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

between  parts  of  the  universe  and  of  the  human  body; 
see  particularly  ]n:  'ain  niax,  ed.  Schechter,  c.  31  and 
the  references  given  there.  For  several  years  I  have  been 
collecting  material  on  this  subject  in  mediaeval  Hebrew 
literature,  and  hope  to  treat  it  elsewhere.  Here  I  limit  my- 
self to  the  analogy  between  soul  and  body  without  regard 
to  the  idea  of  microcosm. 

The  oldest  instance  of  personification  of  soul  and  body 
in  Jewish  literature  is,  to  my  knowledge,  the  passage  in  b. 
Nedarim  32^.  The  "little  city,  and  few  men  within  it" 
(Eccl.  9,  14-16)  is  interpreted  there  as  signifying  the 
human  body  and  its  limbs,  the  "great  king."  who  builds 
bulwarks  against  the  city,  is  the  evil  spirit  (yin  "li.*"),  and 
the  "poor  wise  man,"  who  delivers  it  by  his  wisdom,  yet 
is  remembered  by  no  one,  is  the  good  spirit  (niu  "iV"').  The 
same  interpretation  is  given  by  the  Targum  and  Midrash 
Kohcl.  rah.  on  the  verses  referred  to;  comp.  Bahya,  Duties, 
V,  5,  near  beginning;  Zohar,  Dnrs,  HI,  234&-235&;  Samuel 
Ibn  Tibbon,   D"'On  llp%  Pressburg  1837,  p.  92. 

Very  ingenious  is  the  metaphor  employed  in  b.  Sanhe- 
drin  91a  (occurring  also  in  Lev.  rah,  c.  4,  §  5,  and  Tan- 
huma,  section  Kip'>i)  to  express  the  relation  between  soul 
and  body.  They  are  both  compared  to  two  men,  one  lame, 
the  other  blind,  who,  when  called  to  account  for  the 
despoliation  of  the  king's  garden  which  they  were  appointed 
to  watch,  denied  the  deed  on  the  ground  of  their  physical 
disabilities.  The  king,  however,  placed  the  lame  man  on 
the  shoulders  of  the  Ijlind  one  and  demonstrated  to  them 
the  way  in  which  they  had  jointly  committed  the  crime. 
The  application  is  to  the  flesh  and  the  spirit.  When  soul 
and  body  are  arraigned  before  the  Almighty  they  disown 
responsibility  for  their  sins  in  this  world.     The  soul  alleges 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUIv   AND   BODY — MAVfER       455 

that  it  had  not  the  physical  organs  for  committing  sin,  the 
body  contends  that  without  initiative  from  the  soul  it  was 
incapable  of  any  action,  God  thereupon  reunites  body  and 
soul  and  metes  out  punishment  to  both  together.  This 
beautiful  parable  found  its  way  also  among  the  Arabs.  The 
"Brethren  of  Purity,"  a  humanistic  society  of  Arab  philos- 
ophers of  the  tenth  century,  reproduce  the  story  with  vari- 
ous embellishments  characteristic  of  these  Mohammedan 
writers  and  their  fondness  for  vivid  imagery.''  The  Arabic 
superscription  of  the  parable  is  "Al-Hindi,"  the  Hindoo, 
thus  declaring  it  to  be  of  Hindoo  origin.  Steinschneider, 
however,  cites  various  instances,  where  Arabic  Hindi, 
Hebrew  ""lin,  and  Latin  Indus  are  errors  for  Yahudi, 
^"lltT'  ,  and  Jndciis  (mediaeval  spelling),  and  believes  this  to 
be  the  case  also  here.  The  Arabs  received  the  parable  from 
the  Jews,  not  from  the  Hindoos,  as  the  latter  are  not 
known  to  have  applied  it  to  soul  and  body."  This  hypothesis 
is  not  acceptable.  A  quotation  from  Richard  Garbe's  "Die 
Samkhya- Philosophic"  (1894),  p.  164,  (taken  from  Karika 
21),  kindly  communicated  to  me  by  Professor  George  F. 


^   See    Dieterici,    Anthropologic    der   Araber,    Leipzig    1871,    p.    ni-113. 

°  II  libra  di  Sidrach,  Rome  1872,  p.  8,  n.  2:  "almeno  non  mi  e  noto  che 
questa  favola  fosse  applicata  dagli  Indiani  all'  anima  ed  al  corpo";  comp. 
Hebr.  Bibliographie,  XIII,  31,  especially  his  posthumous  work  Rangstreit- 
Literatur,  in  Sitsungsh.  d.  philos.  hist.  Klasse  d.  kais.  Akad.  d.  Wiss.  in  Wien, 
CLV  (1908),  No.  IV,  p.  58-  60,  where  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the 
parable  is  more  thoroughly  discussed  and  also  some  Hindoo  parallels  quoted. 
In  a  recent  work,  The  Egyptian  Elements  in  the  Legend  of  the  Body  and 
Soul  by  Louise  Dudley  (Bryn  Mawr  College  Monograph  Series,  vol.  VIII), 
the  learned  authoress,  over-anxious  to  prove  her  thesis,  sees  in  all  her 
material  but  Coptic  and  old  Egyptian  elements.  Her  general  conclusions  (p. 
i49,against  Linow  and  Steinschneider;  comp.  also  p.  160),  as  the  passage 
from  Garbe's  work  shows,  are  not  at  all  conclusive.  The  present  article, 
however,  was  already  under  print  when  the  above  dissertation  came  to  my 
knowledge,    which    precludes   a    discussion    in    detail. 


456  THE    JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

Moore,  proves  that  the  ascription  is  correct  and  that  the 
Arabs  took  the  parable  from  the  Hindoos.  The  passage 
translated  reads  as  follows : 

"The  relation  between  brute  creative  matter  and  the 
spiritual,  but  inactive,  soul  is  compared  to  the  alliance  be- 
tween the  blind  and  the  lame  man.  Finding  themselves 
hopelessly  entangled  in  a  thicket,  one  took  the  other  on 
his  shoulders  and  both  reached  safety.  The  lame  man  is 
the  soul.  It  has  the  power  of  vision,  but  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Samkhya-system  it  can  neither  move  nor  act. 
The  blind  man  is  matter.  It  has  the  power  of  movement, 
and  executes  all  of  the  world's  actions,  but  it  neither  sees 
nor  comprehends." 

Through  what  channels  the  idea  came  into  the  Talmud, 
I  am  unable  to  say.  The  Brethren  of  Purity,  or  the  ''Noble 
Friends,"  as  they  also  call  themselves  at  times,*  could 
hardly    have    had    any    knowledge    of    the    Talmud,    since 

■*  I  use  the  translation  "Brethren  of  Purity,"  which  is  commonly  met 
with  in  the  works  of  European  writers,  especially  those  of  Dieterici,  who  has 
edited  and  translated  into  German  most  of  their  writings.  The  real  mean- 
ing of  the  arabic  'Ihwan  es-§afa  is,  as  Goldziher  (Muhammedanische  Studien, 
I,  9,  n.  I,  and  more  partcularly  in  the  periodical  "Der  Islam,"  Strassburg 
1910,  I,  22-26)  has  proved,  "The  True  Friends";  comp.  Steinschneider,  JQR., 
XVII,  581  (357).  In  Hebrew  literature  they  are  mostly  referred  to  by  some 
general  epithet,  as  D'aiOnpH,  D»03nn,  n'B1Dl'?»Bn  (nns)  nvp ;  comp.  for 
instance  Moses  Ibn  Ezra,  in  the  periodical  J1'S,  II,  120,  1.  8  from  bottom, 
with  Dieterici,  Anthropologic,  p.  i.  iio  f . ;  see  also  below,  note  32.  Palquera 
is  to  my  knowledge  the  only  author,  who,  in  CpSD.  20b,  450,  top,  refers  to 
thern  as  D'pTlin  Dninm  D'JDKJn  DTINn,  corresponding  to  the  Arabic 
aISJI  *liJt-!»Vlj  •S^'aaJI  j^J»-'  ('Ihwan  cs§afa,  ed.  Dieterici,  p.  624, 
top);  comp.  also  cpDD,  45'':  D'30K3n  D'yiH .  Joseph  Albo,  'Itf^arim,  III, 
and  one  of  the  versions  of  Mainionides'  Letter  to  Samuel  Ibn  Tibliou 
(0"3mn  maicn  Y^^p,  Leipzig  1859,  p.  zSrf)  quote  by  the  Arabic  ;K13K 
KBvSm  ;  comp.  Kaufmann,  Attrihiitcnlehre.  336,  and  Ilorovitz'  Introduction  to 
Ibn  $addilf's  pp    dSiJ?,  VII,  n.  31,  32- 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUL   AND   BODY — MALTER       457 

there  was  no  Jew  in  their  ranks.  Be  that  as  it  may  they 
have  been  more  than  generous  in  their  return  to  the  Jews 
for  what  they  have  taken  from  the  latter.  For  Jewish 
Hterature  abounds  in  instances  of  allegories  of  soul  and 
body,  nearly  all  of  which  are  taken  directly  or  indirectly 
from  the  works  of  these  humanists.  As  there  is  no  other 
principle  to  guide  us  in  the  arrangement  of  the  following 
quotations,  they  may  be  grouped  historically  according  to 
the  authors  in  whose  works  they  first  occur. 

In  the  Apophthegms  of  the  Arab  Honein  b.  Ishak  (died 
873)°  Hippocrates  is  creditea  with  the  sentence:  b^lif  nbv^ 
C'sycya  m«-in  n^yoD  fiin  ibn,  "the  intellect  is  to  the  body 
as  the  light  is  to  the  eye."  This  comparison  is  very  fre- 
quently met  with  in  the  works  of  Arabic  as  well  as  Jewish 

authors.     So  Avicenna  (died  1038)  \r^^  l/"^c^^V'^^  ^""Vj 

lijLail  *♦-•.  which  expresses  the  same  idea."  In  a  work 
of  Al-Farabi  (died  950)'  the  comparison  is  made  not  with 
reference  to  the  human  soul  or  intellect  in  general,  but  to 
the  "active"  intellect  in  particular:  mxn  p  ^yisn  h2t*n  DH'^l 
nisnn  |»  l^'OE:•^  onv  Similarly  Al-Gazzali  (died  iiii), 
Ethics,  151,  155.  In  the  work  Q'j"'JDn  "inao,  attributed  to 
Ibn  Gabirol,  at  the  end  of  mtJ'nDn  -lyt',  the  sentence  reads: 
siljn  "iix  EJ'SJn  p  nSiyn  "iix  t'DK^n  i^r'XDl.  Most  of  the  He- 
brew authors,  drawing  a  line  between  the  soul   ( t'EJ )   and 

'  Translated  into  Hebrew  by  Judah  Al-IJarizi  under  the  title  '*1D10 
D'B1Dl'?»En,    II,    8,   beginning,    ed.    Loewenthal,    Frankf.    a.    M.    1896,   p.    35- 

•  Haneberg,  Zur  Erkenntnisslehre  von  Ibn  Sina  und  Albertus  Magnus, 
Munich  1866,  p.  66,  §  9;  see  also  Avicenna's  Compendium  of  Psychology 
published   by   Landauer,   ZDMG.,   XXIX,   37 1,   1.    5- 

^  niWXOjn  mSnnn,  published  by  H.  Filipowskl  in  e]'DNn,  Leipzig  1849, 
I,  s.  The  passage  is  quoted  by  Hillel  b.  Samuel  (thirteenth  century),  in 
tyBjn  'SlOjn,  yb,  and  by  Shem  Tob  Palquera,  niSj?Qn,  15,  who  does  net 
mention   Al-Farabi's   work. 


458  THE    JEWISH    QUARTERLY    REVIEW 

the  intellect  (^35^'),  carry  the  simile  to  both/  The  sentence 
occurs  in  its  original  Arabic  form  in  an  anonymous  Arabic 
commentary  on  Canticles/    Without  mentioning  any  source 


the  author  simply  says :  |D  bySD^X  bpvbn  ri^no  IS  no^y  npi 
IM^K  p  DOK'^X  n!5no  ;xd:x!?x.  The  origin  of  this  compar- 
ison is  Aristotle's  De  Anhna,  II,  i." 

\'ery  frequent  is  another  comparison,  likewise  of  Aris- 
totelian origin,"  following  which  the  soul  is  a  craftsman 
and  the  body  the  tool  of  his  trade.  Saadia  is  here  the  first 
Jewish  author  to  make  use  of  this  idea,  when  he  says  in 


reference  to  the  soul:  nnn  □••^3^  n:mjn  X"'n  s-'H^' "  and  a 
little  further :  ^x  "in^*  xiaJ  Sd  ^ya  -3  ;i"iJ3  s^X  ^ysn  X^  X'n:;' 
D'bsno  'h2.  Later  authors  are  still  more  explicit  on  the 
subject."    With  the  Brethren  of  Purity  this  comparison  has 

*  See  e.  g.  Joseph  Ibn  'Aljnin,  101(2  IBD ,  103,  174,  top,  and  in  "31p 
n"2Din  nnityn,  Leipzig  1859,  11,  45?^;  Simon  Duran,  ni2K  PO,  19b,  iob, 
S3b. 

°   Steinschneider's   Festschrift,    53,   bottom. 

">  6jf  6' 7}  oiluQ  Kal  j'l  dvvafiig  tov  bpyavov  ?/ il'i'XV  [sc.  EV7£?J;(eia  farn']. 
TO  Se  aufia  to  6vvnfi£i  bv  •  aX/J  uarrep  6  btp'^a/uog  y  Kopr/  Kal  r/  dijug, 
KCiKEc  7]  TJ'VXV  Kal  oufia  TO  l^uov ;  comp.  Zeller,  Philosophic  der  Griechen,  3d 
ed.,  IT,  2,  p.  487,  n.  i,  especially  Steinschneider's  annotation  to  Maimonides' 
nin^n    IDXO,    17,    n.    30,   and   Hcbr.    Cbersetsungen,   23,   n.    150. 

"  Zeller,  /.  c.  In  the  so-called  Pseudo-Theology  of  Aristotle  it  is  re- 
peatedly asserted  in  the  name  of  the  "divine  philosopher"  Plato  that  the 
soul  is  the  real  man  and  the  body  only  the  latter's  instrument;  see  the  Arabic 
text,  edited   by  Dieterici,  Leipzig  1882,  p.    120    (German  translation,   122),   149. 

"  Emunot,  Constantinople  1562,  p.  546,  .\rabic  text,  edited  by  Landauer, 
P-    "95.  1-   7;   the  later   Hebrew  e<litions  have  erroneously  07137    for    D'7D7. 

"  So  Ibn  .^a<Mik,  pp  oSlJ?  (Urcslau  1903),  32,  bottom,  75,  1.  8: 
tfBan  13  nCDDCD  'S31  nUOIK  »S33  K'nC  (comp.  Horovitz,  Psychologie, 
'77.  n.  95);  Judah  Ilalevi,  Kucari,  II,  26;  Maimonides,  Dn"nn  7f2KO,  near 
beginning:  Vtih  'Ss  KIH  QJDK  lSS33  qUDty  yni3  1331;  Joseph  Ibn 
'Alfnin,  1D10  7CD,  19,  115  (comp.  Goldziher,  Kitdb  ma'ani  al-nafs,  48); 
Palquera,     VB3n      'D  ,    c.     3;     the    anonymous    author    of    the    commentary    on 


PERSONIFICATIONS    OF  SOUL   AND   BODY — MAI.TER       459 

become  almost  a  habit.  They  exploit  the  thought  from 
every  possible  point  of  view,  even  to  the  extent  of  making 
it  trivial." 

The  works  of  the  Brethren  of  Purity  are  the  chief 
source  also  for  numerous  parables  on  body  and  soul.  Thus 
they  are  compared  to  a  king  and  his  palace,  the  governor 
and  his  province,  the  mayor  and  the  city,  or  the  house 
(body)  and  its  inmate,  similes  which  are  in  turn  worked 
out  with  minute  detail,  with  points  of  comparison  carried 
to  extremes.  A  few  instances  will  suffice  to  illustrate  the 
method.  On  one  occasion  where  body  and  soul  are  compar- 
ed to  the  house  and  its  occupants  the  head  is  likened  to  the 
attic  of  the  house,  the  eyes  and  ears  are  peep-holes,  the 
throat  is  the  corridor,  the  lungs  are  the  summer-palace, 
the  heart,  with  its  natural  warmth,  the  winter-palace,  the 
stomach  is  the  kitchen,  mouth  and  lips  are  door  and  door- 
posts, the  teeth  are  watchmen,  and  the  tongue  is  the  cham- 
berlain. Where  comparison  deals  with  loftier  personages 
each  character  is  given  a  train  of  attendants.  Thus  in  the 
instance  in  which  the  soul  or  the  intellect  is  made  the  king, 
the  five  faculties  of  the  mind,  called  the  "inner"  senses,^" 
become  his  ministers,  the  five  physical  (or  "outer")  senses 
are  his  soldiers,  the  ears  are  the  messengers,  who  bring  the 

Canticles,  quoted  above,  52,  bottom;  Joseph  Albo,  'Ikkarim,  II,  28,  and  others; 
comp.  Kaufmann,  Sinne,  57,  n.  54;  Goldziher,  /.  c,  28,  first  note  on  text, 
p.  19;  Horovitz,  tjber  den  Einfluss  der  griechischen  Philosophic  anf  die 
Entwicklung  des  Kalam,  Breslau   1909,  p.   13,  n.  2. 

^■*  See  Dieterici,  Anthropologie,  5-9,  17,  43,  128;  Die  Lehre  von  der 
Weltseele,  91  f.  (Arabic  text,  ed.  Dieterici,  513  f.) ;  comp.  also  Al-tazzali, 
Ethics,    38:  nn23101   CBjS   'Ss    qUHI. 

"  Al-Karabi  appears  to  have  been  the  first  to  introduce  a  distinction  be- 
tween outer  and  inner  senses:  4.^]»vJl*  0  jftUaJ'  ,  •«'U-.>-Ji;  see  his  'Uyiin 
almasa'il,  c,  20,  apiid  Schmoelders,  Documcnta  Philosophiac  Arabum,  Bonn 
1836,   p.   23.     By  "inner"  senses  are   understood  those   functions  of  the  soul  or 


460  THE    JEWISH    QUARTERLY    REVIEW 

news  to  the  king,  the  hands  are  his  servants,  and  so  on.'* 
This  simile  is  not  original  with  the  Brethren  of  Purity. 
It  was  used  earlier,  in  less  detail  however,  by  Al-Farabi  in 
a  treatise  on  the  soul."  An  interesting  parallel  to  this 
simile  appears  in  Avicenna's  Compendium  of  Psychology, 

Zm/G.,  XXIX.  353:   j}^[-]\    j^\    c\^X\    (i  '^'}.\     :Ji 

^\^\'^<  ^^\  ;^llj  ^^^\  ^=rji  <:i\j^«Vl  ju^.  ^^\^ 

tf^allj  J.j}^  i^_«dl  a^il^j  -^I-^'^  s^vX'^  U[H  i  -^i-^^^  <J^'. 
ji_^Vl     ^Ay^     \y    IJJL'*     This  presentation  is  made  use  of 

intellect  which,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  Arabs,  are  performed  without 
the  assistance  of  any  of  the  five  "outer,"  bodily  senses,  as  apperception, 
imagination,  cogitation,  and  retention.  The  Arabic  philosophers  differ  as  to 
the  number  of  these  functions,  Al-Farabi  counting  four,  while  our  authors, 
as  well  as  later  writers,  enumerate  five.  There  is,  moreover,  much  disagree- 
ment as  to  the  single  functions  which  are  to  be  included  in  this  number.  We 
are  here  not  concerned,  however,  in  these  particulars.  For  a  detailed  dis- 
cussion see  Kaufmann,  Die  Theologie  des  Baclija,  12-15.  Mediaeval  Hebrew 
authors  followed  their  Arabic  masters  in  all  these  points.  Kaufmann,  Sinne, 
46  ff.,  gives  a  long  list  of  Hebrew  authors  discussing  the  D^'O'JE  C'Cin 
D'JIS^m  ,  to  which  many  more  can  be  added.  So  Dunash  b.  Tamim  (loth 
century),  commentary  on  Ye^irah,  London  1902,  p.  64;  Palquera,  CEin,  c.  12, 
18;  Aaron  b.  Elijah,  introduction  to  \iy  \i  ;  Meir  Aldabi,  n:iOK  'S'Stf, 
Warsaw  1887,  p.  141,  col.  b  (taken  from  D'OCTl  1j;t?  of  Cerson  b.  Solomon, 
Rodelheim  1801,  76,  top);  Simon  Duran,  ni2S  ]J?2,  316,  356;  Isaac  Abrabanel, 
D'ipt  maj?'  <^-  21.  and  others.  For  D':i:{'m  n''D'3B  often  is  used  n''3nn 
C"3C1J1  ,  which  is  also  found  in  Arabic  sources,  so  in  the  works  of  the 
Brethren  of  Purity,  ed.  Dieterici,  209,  bottom.  The  poet  Immanuel  of  Rome 
uses  D'tPJIIDI  D"n'3B  (Makama  18,  ed.  Lemberg  1870,  p.  1326).  Berechiah 
ha-N'akdan,  ll^nn  'D  ,  ed.  Gollancz,  London  1902,  p.  52,  146,  uses  COCJ 
D"tyE:i. 

"  See  Dieterici,  Anthropologic,  5  ff.,  17,  43,  128,  especially  53,  56; 
IVeltseele,   33,  46  f.,   109  f . ;  comp.  Naturanschauung,  83,  Microcosmos,  72,  89. 

"  Translated  into  Hebrew  by  Zerahiah  b.  Isaac  (1280)  under  the  title 
trcan  mnoa  1D«0  and  published  in  the  collection  HTIiJ  mon,  Konigs- 
berg    1856,    p.    48a;   comp.    Steinschneider,    Hebr.    Obersetsungcii,    295    f. 

'•  See  the  German  translation  of  Landaucr,  ib.,  391,  n.  14,  and  the 
parallel,    Dieterici,   Anthropologie,    35. 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUL   AND   BODY — MAI^TER       461 


anonymously  by  Al-Gazzali,  pn^  'JTXD,  39:  aK'inn  n^n  noNi 

yV)0N3  UB'IOlDlpOl  1NDD  bv  2^"^  l^OH  1D3  NIH  niOH  yV»X2  IJDK'DI 

aaiin  inj:;^  iniSt:'  Jnjoa  jnjno  nit^n  "jsb  iJ^t^'D  ''jvcnni  inia^o 
Nin  ...loit^n  nam  i3y  ^3n  nit^nnn  r^^x  x^a^  ■1E^'S  inobo  ban  iiya 
nyn  v'^'^'"'  ""^^  ^^^  nmon  nam  in^a  joxji  rnnvus  ^ya  ion 
niyiiotJ'n  "byai  v""^*'"!  ^'^  D'^jids  D''B'inni  iiqid  id3  sin  ^yisn  nani 
..ATy'i  nSD-'tJ'  no  ^33  D^noNn.  Gazzali  develops  this  imagery 
still  further  and  concludes  with  the  following  sentence  put 
in  the  mouth  of  a  bee :  131k6i    D'!?2po   VJINl    Dmo    vry   mxn 

VN3X  nK'i  v^"'"'n  •'m  2b   nn"  rs  j^n  "ibon  a^.^* 

This  imagery  proved  a  source  of  inspiration  also  to  the 
poets  of  the  Synagogue.  In  discussing  some  liturgical  pro- 
ductions containing  similar  figures,  Steinschneider  says  with 
reference  to  the  passage  just  cited:  "For  this  beautiful 
description  of  the  human  body  the  Synagogue  is  indebted 
to  Gazzali.'""  The  passage  inspired  him  to  a  materfarl  imita-  (yy\e4/loC0^i. 
tion  given  below. 

Die  Augen  sind  die  Fiihrer, 
Die  Ohren  die  Kassirer, 
Die  Zunge  ist  der  Dragoman, 
Die  Hande  Fliigelmanner, 

^°  lb.,  p.  40;  see  the  many  similar  pictures,  often  highly  poetical,  in  the 
tenth  chapter  of  the  work,  out  of  which  the  following  two  sentences  may  be 
quoted  here,  as  they    belong  to  our    subject    proper.     The    one,  p.    63,    reads: 

on  D'niB'Dn  inaxi  vninsi  imsSoi  tts?2  Sk'io  Sts'os  iei;i3  anxn  csi  Sco 
D'Syism  D^ioisn  laa;  the  other,  p.  66:  iSo  103  '^h2v^  nano  i03  Kin  ibui 
D'W"iB  103  on  D»'0'iBni    c':i:«'nn    D'trinno    D';!'tt'on  rmnsi   nniN  ymn 

Oya  masi.  The  O  in  O'tyinnO  is  partitive,  the  sense  being:  and  his  faculties 
of  comprehension  and  perception  consisting  of  the  outer  and  inner  senses  are 
like  soldiers  etc.;  comp.  Lev.  rab.  4,  §  4;  see  also  Tholuck,  Bliithensammlung 
aus  der  morgenlandischen  Mystik,  213;  E.  H.  Plumptre,  Ecclesiastes,  12,  2, 
p.   213   f- 

20  Magasin   fiir   die    Wissenschaft    des   Judentiims,    1876,    p.    191,    note. 


462  THE    JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

Die  Fiisse  sind  die  Renner, 

Das  Herz  der  thronende  Sultan : 

Und  ist's  dem  Konig  wohl  urns  Herz ; 

Dann  fiihlt  kein  Diener  Sorg'  und  Schmerz." 
Jewish  philosophers,  nurtured  in  the  literature  of  the 
Arabs,  naturally  followed  the  same  line  of  thought.  Thus 
Bahya  Ibn  Pakuda's  masterful  description  of  the  human 
body  as  a  palace  with  the  intellect  as  its  royal  resident 
attended  to  by  a  splendid  staff  of  servants,"  agrees  in  its 
main  features,  as  also  in  many  details,  with  that  of  the 
Brethren  of  Purity.  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra  is  another  instance 
of  prominent  Hebrew  authors  who  took  delight  in  por- 
traying soul  and  body  in  Arabic  fashion.^'  In  Judah 
Halevi's  symbolical  description  of  the  Tabernacle  and  the 
sacrificial  cult    {Kiisari,  II,  26)"    "King    Intellect"     ("lb» 

"   Steinschneider,    Manna,    Berlin    1847,    p.    83. 

^^  Duties,  III,  9;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Hebr.  Bibliogr.,  XIII,  13,  n.  8; 
Kaufmann,  Die  Tlieologie  des  Bachja,  19.  Palquera's  detailed  description  of 
the  body  comparing  its  various  organs  to  parts  of  the  universe  (  CpaD  ,  46a) 
occurs  with  slight  variations  also  in  Ibn  §addilj:'s  ]tDp  dSiJ?  ,  24  (comp. 
Horovitz,  Psychologie,  162,  n.  45)  and  is  taken  from  the  Brethren  of  Purity 
(see  Dieterici,  Anthropologie,  4  f.),  while  the  author  of  the  ItJ^n  "IBD  (c 
i),   attributed  erroneously  to   R.  Jacob  Tarn,   drew  upon  the  Duties  of  Baljya. 

^  See  e.  g.  his  introduction  to  the  commentary  on  Ecclesiastes  and  ib., 
I,  16,  especially  his  V'pO  ]3  *n,  an  imitation  of  a  work  of  Avicenna,  in 
the  collection  D'JIOCD  tTOn,  Berlin  1845,  p.  47.  The  Hebrew  translation 
of  Avicenna's  work  and  that  of  an  Arabic  commentary  on  the  same  under 
the  title  |"pO  ]3  'H  mJK  was  published  by  Kaufmann  in  the  periodical 
T  Sy  l*31p,  II,  Berlin  1886;  see  ib.,  20  f.  for  passages  relating  to  the 
subject    under    consideration. 

"  Comi).  also  ib.,  Ill,  s,  beginning;  Baljya,  Duties,  I,  7,  end.  Ibn 
Zebarah,  O'Vltryc?  1CD,  (1866),  24  (  qun  -[So  «in  flpn  )  may  also  be 
here  referred  to;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Hebr.  Bibliogr.,  XIII,  15,  particularly 
the  many  instances  quoted  by  Kaufmann,  Sinnc,  63,  n.  70;  comp.  also  Judah 
Al-Barccloni,  m»V»  'D  trnc,  Berlin  1885,  p.  109,  265;  Ba^ya  b.  Asher, 
beginning   of    section    nSty^. 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUL  AND   BODY — MALTFR       463 

TiaK^n)  dwelling  in  the  heart  is  compared  to  the  Shekinah 
which  resided  in  the  Sanctuary,  He,  too,  like  Avicenna 
whose  psychological  theories  he  adopted,"  makes  of  the 
inner  and  outer  senses  a  kind  of  advisory  board  to  the 
intellect.  Less  complimentary  to  the  body  is  Joseph  Ibn 
Saddik.  The  animal  soul,  which  is  a  general  term  for  all 
functions  of  the  physical  senses,  is  the  mere  servant  of  the 
rational  soul :  loit:'  IDD  X'n  [n^nn]  c^Djnn^on  10=  nrDsnn  k'DJHI 
"l!?on  'JQ  nx  mtJ'on  m):").'^  His  source  is  the  treatise  of  Al- 
Farabi,  p.  48a."  The  distinction  between  the  souls 
is  of  Platonic  origin.'"  Passages  of  this  kind  from  the 
works  of  Hebrew  authors  are  to<i  numerous  for  quotation. 
The  above  will  suffice  as  examples. 

To  this  category  of  similes  in  which  the  soul  always 
appears  as  a  sovereign  with  the  body  as  its  royal  quarters, 

"  Steinschneider  first  called  attention  to  Judah  Halevi's  dependence  upon 
Avicenna,  see  Hebr.  Bibliogr.,  X,  57,  n.  2.  Landauer,  ZDMG.,  XXIX,  335  ff., 
proved  it  in  detail;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Hebr.  Xibersetzungen,  18,  n.  121; 
Kaufmann,    Thcologie   des  Bachja,    12,   n.   4. 

^°  ]J3p  dSiJ?  (1903),  37.  On  other  occasions  he,  like  Abraham  Ibn 
Ezra  (Introduction  to  Commentary  on  Eccl.),  uses  also  the  simile  of  house 
and  resident;  see  ib.,  33,  top  (  n'3n  1in3  piCD  );  comp.  Horovitz'  Intro- 
duction,  XII,   n.    S3,   Psychologie,    161,   n.    43,    177,   n.   95.      Similarly   Palquera, 

trpao,  47a:  n»aS  cnSai  n:3ty  n'23  icbj  Ssn  nihi. 

*'  See  above,  note  17;  Steinschneider,  Hebr.  Vbersetsungen,  296,  n.  204; 
comp.  also  Schmiedl,  Studien,  145.  I  must  call  attention  here  to  a  passage 
quoted  by  the  author  of  the  Commentary  on  Canticles,  55,  of  which  I  do 
not   know   the   source.      It   reads:    nS'N  pCNln   .   Di:'3tDJN0  HoS  Dn2T  rtvhv 

nonSoa.  The  last  portion  is  found  literally  in  the  book  Yefirah,  c.  6,  §  2, 
where  the  version  of  Saadia,  ed.  Lambert,  102,  top,  has  more  correctly  CjUD  27; 
comp.  Judah  Al-Barceloni  as  quoted,  note  24,  and  Dunash  Ibn  Tamim, '"DB, 
71.  The  middle  portion  expresses,  I  believe,  the  same  idea  as  quoted  above 
from  Ibn  $addik.  The  author  seems  to  have  taken  the  whole  passage  from 
some  younger  Midrash. 

^*  Horovitz,    Psychologie,    174,    n.    83,    177,    n.    91. 


464  THE   JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

belongs  also  the  comparison  of  the  soul  to  a  captain  steer- 
ing a  vessel  (body),  a  thought  that  can  be  traced  back  to 
Plato.  Here  again  the  Brethren,  true  to  their  method,  spin 
a  long  yarn  (see  Dieterici,  Macrocosmos,  107-110),  con- 
triving a  variety  of  supplementary  analogies  to  complete  the 
picture.  Thus  e.  g.  man's  actions  are  compared  to  the 
merchandise  with  which  the  vessel  is  fraught,  the  world 
is  the  ocean,  life  is  a  voyage  across  the  sea,  death  is  the 
haven,  and  the  hereafter  is  the  home  of  the  passengers,'" 
or  the  safe  harbor,  where  captain  and  craft  take  their  final 
rest  (Dieterici,  Anthropologic,  17,  43,  127). 

It  has  been  pointed  out  already  by  Steinschneider 
(Hebr.  Bibliogr.,  XIII,  8)  that  the  works  of  the  Brethren 
have  influenced  also  the  Kabbalah.  Thus  we  find  the  above 
simile  applied  in  the  Zohar,  Exod.,  section  ^np""!,  199.  The 
prophet  Jonah's  going  on  board  of  a  ship  is  allegorized  as 
the  human  soul  entering  the  body.  The  name  Jonah  (from 
r\y>  =  to  deceive)  is  applied  to  the  soul,  which  is  deceived 
into  a  calamitous  association  with  the  body.  "And  the  ship 
was  like  to  be  broken"  (Jonah,  I,  4)  is  taken  as  an  allusion 
to  the  frailty  of  the  human  body,  constantly  threatened  by 
the  storms  of  life.  The  lengthy  exposition  of  the  Zohar 
was  translated  literally  into  Hebrew  and  made  part  of  a 
later    Midrash    on    the  book  of  Jonah."    The  metaphor  is 

^  'Ih'van    es-^afa,    ed.    Dieterici,    457:  7-  ^lo        -.ij^j   A"„A_-1D     Jl^i-I 

*o  njV  cno,  in  Jellinck's  Bet  ha-Midiasch,  I,  103  f. ;  comp.  Jellinek, 
ib.,  p.  XIX.  For  the  Aramaic  of  the  Zohar  I  quote  a  part  of  the  passage 
of   the   Hebrew   translation   of   the    Midrash:    W  HQCin     U   n3»BDS    TTCf  n:r 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUL   AND   BODY — MALTER       465 

very  frequently  met  with  in  the  works  of  philosophic 
writers.  So  Ibn  'Aknin,  D"30in  nniKTi  yDp ,  II,  45«: 
bainn  ai  i?D3  nioSK'n  nt^'iy  n\n^C'  ^je-n  pnni  ...DO^ro  ':^  mDbt^'^ 
^JK'n  pooK'DJni...n:''EDn  ninbt^  Nin  0.  The  same,  but  more 
elaborately,  he  says  in  his  iDio  nSD,  173.  The  whole 
discussion  of  Ibn  'Aknin  in  the  Kobes  is  found 
almost  verbally  in  Palquera's  K'DJn  IQD,  c.  3,  a  work 
which  is  wholly  based  on  Avicenna's  Compendium  of 
Psychology  mentioned  before."  Palquera  uses  the  met- 
aphor also  in  c.  15  of  the  same  work  as  also  in  some  of  his 
other  works.'"  The  Italian  author  Hillel  b.  Samuel  (thir- 
teenth century),'"  the  Karaite  Aaron  b.  Elijah  (fourteenth 
century)/'  and  the  Christian  scholastic  Thomas  Aquinas 
quote  it  in  the  name  of  Plato.'^ 

'131  iDcnS  nncn  n'iNm. 

'*  See  Steinschneider,  Hebr.  Vhersetzungen,  18,  n.  122?;  and  p.  989, 
No.    5- 

52  See  his  DlSnn  niJIN,  JQR.,  1910,  p.  471,  where  the  simile  is  quoted 
as  a  D'JIOTpn  Svfti,  by  which  the  Brethren  of  Purity  are  to  be  understood; 
see  above,  note  4;  comp.  also  yWTi  »1X,  Hanau  1716,  p.  140-16^,  and  Stein- 
schneider,  Hebr.   Bibliogr.,   XIII,   30. 

=5  B>B:n  <Sia;in,  3b,  15b,  160. 

'*    D"n    ]*y ,    c.    108,    beginning. 

"'  See    B'Ban    Sj;   10N0    in   the   collection    HTIiJ  man,   2:    eiuS  np2T  C'B3n 

IIisSbko  Dixnijnj  ymoc'   los  dsSS  mNn   1021  n:'BDS  ;BDn   loa.    The 

editor  wrongly  ascribes  the  treatise  to  Ibn  Gabirol;  see  Steinschneider, 
Hebr.  Obersetsungen,  22,  n.  144.  Prof.  Louis  Ginzberg  communicates  to 
me  the  following  passage  from  the  flltm  of  Joshua  Ibn  Shu'aib  (fourteenth 
century),    section   K1S1  ,    ed.    Constantinople    1523,    fol.    27,    col.    c:  Snj  DSni 

HivSyn  notrin  ...Skiit^  »03nQ  m  Sapc  pBO  ]'ni  n«:N  cBjn  xip  moiNno 
DiKn  riij2    nN3i   n'?B''?nco    oroi    D'    D'xnp^n    n'on   mpoo  nxan  .t:k, 

Ibn  Shu'aib  only  proves  hereby  that  he  was  not  well-informed  on  the 
subject.  For  pseudo-Bahya  and  others  see  Goldziher,  Kitdb,  50.  The 
quotation  there  from  Bahya  b.  Asher's  commentary  on  Genesis  fully  agrees 
with  the  passage  in  Ibn  'A^nin's    IDIO     1BD,    173,   referred   to   above. 


466  THE   JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

Somewhat  similar  to  the  above  group  of  metaphors  is 
the  one  in  which  the  soul  is  conceived  of  as  a  rider  and  the 
body  as  the  steed.  The  world  appears  here  as  a  race- 
track, on  which  the  wise  are  the  winners/'  The  same 
simile  is  used  by  Al-Gazzali,  Ethics,  156:  1D2  Nin  t>a3n 
Dion  1D3  Piuni  irisn  .  Elsewhere  in  the  same  work  (p. 
134)"  he  compares  the  body  to  a  chariot  which  conveys  the 
soul  to  its  celestial  abode :  inyn  u  "iL"s*  C'Djn  naaio  xin  f\)in 
]vb]}  ^JSK'O  ^x  ,  a  metaphor  found  very  frequently  also  in 
the  writings  of  Avicenna/'  Among  Jewish  writers  mention 
may  here  be  made  of  the  anonymous  authors  of  the  Kitab 
ma'atii  al-nafs^^  and  of  the  fragmentary  commentary  on 
Canticles*"  referred  to  above.  Shem  Tob  Palquera  says  :** 
noSiy  ^x  nab^  -invoi  ii'S>:b  32-id  nrn^  fiun  n-'bsn.  Very 
remarkable  in  this  connection  is  a  passage  in  a  later 
Midrash  in  which  the  Messianic  verse    "iinn    bv   aaiii    'jy 

"  'Ihwan    es-^afd,    ed.    Dieterici,    457:  f'W^       i_*)\j(lD         Ju3-1j 

Jl-J^    C^yW^^)     ^_^^^X^     UJ-^^^     sJ^\)^  ;   comp.    Dieterici. 
Anthropologie,    17,    43,    127    f. 
/^  "  Comp.     also     ib.,     i^     bottom     (B'BjS  n21J?1    naSIO     riUH)     and     the 

passage  quoted  above,  note   14. 

"  See  Mehren,  Les  Rapports  de  la  philosophie  d'Avicenne  avec  I'Islam, 
Louvain    1883,    p.     15. 

"  See  that  work,  p.  63,  1.  20;  nn»D1"lE  IHU'  hSk  DINB^Na  »n  panC 
nSyC  TBjnS  rh'iVi  hSk  DlsSxa  ;  comp.  Goldziher  ad  locum,  p.  50.  Abraham 
Ibn  Ezra  on  Exod.  i,  1  says:  Dm  113^2  ....  sS  Nipn  HJvH'H  mKH  nOtTJ 
nS  nJICKin  nation  aSn  (comp.  also  his  commentary  on  Deut.  6,  5,  and  on 
Isa.  66,  14);  similarly  Judah  Ilalevi,  Kiizari,  II,  26  [Vtrh  ]1trKin  Hinnn). 
The  purpose  of  these  authors,  however,  is  not  the  application  of  the  simile, 
but  the  designation  of  the  heart  as  the  organ  in  which  the  soul  resides.  For 
details  on   this  matter  see   Kaufniann,  Sinnc,  63,   n.   70. 

*•  Stcinschneider's    Festschrift,    58,    bottom. 

*'  DiSnn  mJN,  JQR.,  1910,  p.  471;  comp.  Steinschnelder,  Hebr.  Bibliogr., 
XIII.   30   f. 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUl,   AND    BODY — MAI.TER       467 

(Zech.  9,  9)  is  interpreted  as  a  reference  to  the  poor  soul 
riding  the  body."  The  original  source  of  this  group  of 
similes  is  Plato's   Phaedo."' 

The  spirit  of  mediaeval  gloom  and  asceticism  manifests 
itself  in  another  group  of  metaphors  in  which  the  body  is 
likened  to  a  prison  or  dungeon,*^  a  grave  from  which  the 
soul  escapes  only  at  the  moment  of  death,"  an  unburied 
corpse  carried  on  a  bier  by  the  soul/*  Again  the  body  is 
an  idolater,  a  heretic,  a  hypocrite,  a  fool,  Satan,  devil, 
a  courtesan,  with  whom  the  soul,  an  inexperienced  stranger" 

*-  mJN  cmo,  ed.  Buber,  Vienna  1894,  I,  159.  The  Midrash  offers 
two    interpretations   as   follows:   Ht  'ij?   iStIJO   JV2K1   'JJ?!   1:D0   pTHO    »:j?  S'SD 

nh^yr^  niinn»    aryi  eiiJjn  r\n  t5*B:n   aSytr   mtan    '?>•    aam   ens  n'n»   ik 

eiUjn  tlUn  |0  n"2pn  1J?'CV  ;  comp.  Goldziher,  Kitab,  47,  n.  2.  Jedaiah 
ha-Penini  of  Beziers,  oSlJ?  flJ'nS ,  c.  16,  beginning,  uses  the  same  metaphor, 
warning  the  intellect  against  the  allurements  of  the  "braying  ass"  (  m'J?3 
nni'?3D  nana  ItrX  niin«).  His  commentator  Moses  Ibn  IJabib  justifies  this 
upbraiding  of  the  body  by  a  reference  to  a  passage  in  b.  Berakot  30  (rmOB'D 
*1J?13  IIDn  HJItrXI)  which  he  interprets  in  the  same  way.  In  Baljya's  nnDlfl 
it  is  the  body  that  is  termed  iSm  ]V3K  ':j?  Si  ;  comp.,  on  the  other  hand, 
his  Duties,  V,  5,  where,  following  the  Talmud,  Nedarim  32b  (see  above,  p. 
454),   he   applies     pDO  to  the  soul;  comp.  Kohel.  rab.,  4,  13. 

*^  See  Dieterici,  Macrocosmos,  14;  comp.  also  Phaedrus,  246  A,  where 
the   soul    is   described   as   a   charioteer    {ijvioxoq). 

**  j^\)aj>^  li"  5"***  '  '^i'™on,  ed.  Dieterici,  451;  comp.  Dieterici,  Welt- 
seele,  32  f.,  Macrocosmos,  97. 

"  'Ihwdn,    513,    586;    Dieterici,    Weltseele,    91,    189,    Anthropologie,    126. 

"  Dieterici,    Anthropologie,    131. 

*'  The  idea  of  the  soul  being  a  stranger  in  this  world  is  a  favored 
theme  also  with  Jewish  authors;  see  for  instance  Babya,  Duties,  III,  2:  S^BTIB' 

D'syn    D'Bun    nSiya   «i3:    wim    jvSi'n    oSijrn    jo   itJi   ':nn    dsj?    Kin 

and   a   little    further:    nj:3   Sam   ISH  nSi   pTHD   lS   |'K  '"133  XintP   'JBO  SoCm; 
comp.  also  ib.,  IV,  4,  ed.  K6nigsberg   1858,  p.   101    (B-Ban     mi^     u'?     Sj?     hSj^M 


468  THE   JEWISH    QUARTERLY    REVIEW 

in  this  world,  is  brought  in  contact,  who  takes  advantage 
of  the  stranger's  inexperience  and  by  her  demoraHzing 
power  brings  him  to  ruin."  All  this  found  expression  also 
in  Jewish  mediaeval  literature.  To  collect  all  passages 
bearing  on  the  subject  would  be  a  tiresome  and  unprofitable 
task.  Bahya  Ibn  Pakuda's  Exhortation  (nn^in)  alone 
contains  nearly  all  the  epithets  of  the  body  enumerated 
above,^°  while  the  famous  moralizing  Bxamen  Mundi  ( nmn 
D^iy  )  of  Jedaiah  ha-Penini  ofifers  a  still  richer  collection 
of  such  terms.  The  figures  of  the  prison,  grave,  corpse, 
and  the  like,  which  occur  frequently  also  in  the  works  of 
P^hilo,  were  a  favorite  with  the  liturgical  poets.'" 

There  is  another  category  of  metaphors  intimately 
related  to  those  under  discu.«sion.  The  Arabs  as  well  as 
the  Jews  often  substitute  the  world  for  the  body.  Thus 
the  world,  too,  aside  from  being  represented  as  an  ocean 

Tn"iy3  ),  VIII,  3,  last  Meditation;  Goldziher,  Kitab,  44,  n.  i.  Jedaiah  ha- 
Penini's  DtIJ?  fUTia  abounds  in  phrases  expressing  the  same  thought.  The 
soul  is  "kidnaped  from  the  king's  palace"  and  made  to  "live  among  strangers" 
(Ona:  X'l  inS  ...  iSd  »S3>n  naUJ),  a  "traveler  on  the  road  taking 
lodging  in  an  inn"  (]177  nntSJ  miX3,  ib.,  c.  14-15),  and  so  forth;  comp. 
Steinschneider,   Hebr.    Bibliogr.,    XIII,    13;    Goldziher,   Kitab,    47,    n.    i,   3;    see 

also  "inam  -\ht2n  p,  c.  20. 

■*'  Dieterici,  Anthropologic,  131  f.  The  reader  can  rest  assured  that  our 
authors  do  not  fail  to  give  the  soul  the  good  advice  not  to  heed  the  jugglery 
of  the  woman-body,  who,  they  assure,  if  treated  with  indifference  by  her 
intended  victim,   will   soon  desist  from  her  coquetry    {ib.,    132). 

"  Aside  from  the  lengthy  description  of  the  body  as  a  deceiver  and 
seducer  the  author  calls  it  also  IJDO.  0310  IJBI  DKOi  ^\X,  kSi  \h  fiyT  vh 
naian,  mVDOl  IDIOO  id  (=:  heretic)  ,  and  the  like;  comp.  also  his 
Duties,  V,  5,  beginning.  Jedaiah,  c.  14,  in  allusion  to  Gen.  40,  15,  puts  in 
the  mouth  of  the  soul  1122  'mw  \nv ;  c.  15  he  uses  1DK0  and  Sbn  n'2 
=■    dungeon. 

•*  See  the  numerous  references  in  Steinschneider's  Polcmische  und 
apologetische  Literatur,  298,  n.  21,  and  Hebr.  Bibliogr.,  XIII,  12  f.;  comp. 
also  Magazin  fiir  die  Wissenschaft  des  Judentums,  III,   190,  n.  *. 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUL   AND   BODY — MALTER       469 

and  as  a  race-track  (see  above)  it  is  also  spoken  of  as  a 
courtesan,"  a  prison,"  a  fortress,  a  workshop,"  a  harvest- 
field,  where  death  is  the  reaper,"  and  a  shaky  bridge." 
Jewish  literature  bristles  with  parallels/^  Sometimes  the 
authors  conceive  also  of  the  soul  as  a  spiritual  world,  or, 
the  world  to  come,  and  then  soul  and  body  appear  as  two 
opposed  worlds,  or,  in  a  bolder  figure,  as  two  women-rivals, 

'^  An    Arabic    proverb    quoted    by    O.      Bardenhewer,     Hermetts     Trisme- 
gisti...de    castigatione    animae,    Bonn    1873,    p.    28,    reads:   *  »«J     <^»  ?c.  S  U-AJl 

"The    world    is    a    prostitute, 

one   day   she   is   with   a   spice-dealer, 

another  with   a  horse-healer"    (baitar   =:   veterinarian). 

Comp.  '131  niinaa  pcni  rra'jra  iien  nyia^*  m^  ncaiS  nyiT  nanS  nSityo  Safi 

(in  pjaSn,  II,  383);  Dukes,  D'Onp  Snj,  47,  No.  27;  Menahem  Meiri,  on 
Prov.  7,  23.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  Arabic  "dunya,"  world,  as  well  as 
the  Hebrew  S^fl  (and  ]l3t),  denote  also,  as  in  the  above  instances,  worldly 
blessings,  fortune;  comp.  the  description  of  the  world  (nature)  as  a  woman 
in  the  Arabic  text  apud  Bardenhewer,  /.  c,  8,  §  11,  and  especially  n'?iy  DJ'na, 
c.   10,   end. 

°^  Dieterici,   Anthropologie,    144. 

*'  'liiwan,  449;   Dieterici,   Weltseele,   30. 

"  Tiieitrici,  Anthropologie,  ^3,  127   f.;  comp. '/ftaw,  457:       0'»*"'^       tJ** 


j\ju,ll5" 


°^  Dieterici,    Logik,    169. 

•*  Some  references  are  given  by  Steinschneider,  Hebr.  Bibliogr.,  IX,  169, 
top,  XIII,  12  f.,  30  f.  The  eighth  chapter  of  the  oSlJ?  flVna  begins  with 
the  words:  I'Sj?  n:2  yiyi  Itr:!  ]OTm  ...  :iJ?1T  D'  oSiyn;  comp.  Chotzner, 
JQR.,   VIII,   419;    Palquera,  mSyan,    71:  13   B"»  n03    o'jiyn    Ht   KIH    D'H    HTI 

'131  mKH  fiK  nn3«Dn  niK':inni  nmpno,  and  ibn  uisdai,    iitjni  nSon  ]3, 

c.  14:13  13Cn  Ski  vSy  n3y  •1B';i3  nrn  cSiyn.  The  latter  sentence  is  quoted 
also  in  JU'PI  OV,  ed.  Hanau  1716,  p.  ya,  top,  and  by  Moses  Ibn  ^abib 
in    his    commentary    on   D7iy   HiTlS,    336. 


470  THD   JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

who  constantly  quarrel  with  one  another.  So  Gazzali, 
Ethi:s,  157:  D"'JTxc»n  niD2  TIB'S  Nin  -l^^<^1  ntn  n^^iyn  ^^k'dk'  yn 
DTsn  DHD  nnxn  ny-mK'  ;»t  ^3  "'3  nnv  tik'si  myrDi  n-iro  "loai 
nnsn.  Gazzali  is  probably  the  source  of  Bahya:" 
pl'Vpn  nnxn  nvin  "icxs  nnv  ^t'D  xan  oSiyni  nrn  n^iyn  n»Ki 
D'^i^n .  The  sentence  seems  to  be  of  Hindoo  origin  as  it 
occurs  also  in  the  romance  "Prince  and  Dervish,"°*  which 
was  translated  from  Arabic  into  Hebrew  under  the  title 
"i^TJni  "l^on  p  by  the  same  Abraham  Ibn  Hisdai  who 
translated  the  aforementioned  work  of  Gazzali.  There,  c. 
14,  the  sentence  reads  as  follows :  nrn  dW"!  b^K)  nnx  "iDNl 
m^^«^  oysn  nnsn  msn  anx'B'  ^3  nnv  tik'^  Nan  oi^iyni.^' 
Immanuel  of  Rome  ( bxiJOy  nnano,  Makama  19),  rimes: 
nnv  TiB'D  X2ni  nrn  D^iyn  nnva  mry  in^n  vn  "ik'x  Dann  tDsi 
mnxn  Pi^^pntr  ny  nnxn  nvnn  x^  majD  •'JK'ni  nnsK'a  nnxn*". 
Ibn  Hisdai  provides  the  two  women  with  the  names 
of    Hannah    and    Peninnah   (I    Sam.   i),    Hannah    figur- 

"'  Duties,  VIII,  3,  beginning  of  the  2sth  Meditation.  Baliya's  depend- 
ence upon  6azzali  has  been  proved  by  A.  S.  Yahuda,  see  Goldziher,  REI., 
1904,  p.   154    ff- 

'"  See    Steinschneider,    Hebr.    tjbersetzungen,    864    f. 

**  Moses  Ibn  Pabib,  26a,  bottom,  drew,  according  to  Steinschneider, 
Hebr.  Bibliogr.,  XIII,  30,  n.  12,  upon  Ibn  Ilisdai.  Ibn  Ilabib's  version, 
however,  is  somewhat  different  (mnsn  nocn  nnNH  tf^hU  n02  ).  The 
sentence  is  quoted  also  by  Samuel  ^imhi  (1346);  see  Steinschneider,  ib.,  p. 
106. 

*"  The  ed.  pr.,  Brescia  1491,  and  ed.  Lemberg  1870,  p.  149,  bottom, 
have  erroneously  Cl'piyntS'  for  ri'Spntf  which  is  the  reading  of  ed.  Con- 
stantinople. Saul  b.  Simon  who  first  published  Palquera's  ]1J'n  '"IS  (Cremona 
1557)  and  claims  to  have  reproduced  its  contents  from  memory  (see  this 
Review,  1910,  p.  173,  n.  42)  has  embodied  in  his  memory  numerous  passages 
from  Immanuel's  work.  Thus  the  whole  lengthy  passage  in  Immanuel's 
Makdmas,  from  which  the  above  sentences  are  taken,  is  reproduced  literally, 
with  a  few  omissions,  in  the  ]1Jl»n  'IS  ,  ed.  Ilanau  7a.  There,  too,  the 
reading  is  B\'>p\ffr)1ff  .  The  work  ought  to  be  republished  from  the  original 
MS.  found  in  the  collection   of  the   late   David   Kaufmann. 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUL   AND    BODY — M ALTER       47 1 

ing,  of  course,  as  the  better  of  the  two/^  Immediately 
before  the  sentence  just  quoted  Ibn  Hisdai  quotes  the  say- 
ing of  a  wise  man"^  that  this  world  is  the  paradise  of  the 
wicked  and  the  prison  of  the  righteous :  |'0n  py  nrn  D^iyn 
pDNOn  nOKOl.  This,  too,  is  found  in  the  works  of  Al- 
GazzaH""  and  Immanuel."  Joseph  Ibn  Saddik,  who  is  also 
to  be  mentioned  here,  has  ( }Dp  D^iy,  "j(),  bottom)  :  nDN31 
D"'ytJ'"in  riJJi  D''"'pjb  in  on  rr'a  sint^  D^iyn  i^y  loxj.  Ibn  Hisdai 
is  also  the  source  for  Immanuel's  ^NIK'J  Dn  ^an  ^cm:i 
S2n  D^iyn  .*'  In  nvjni  "jbon  p  ,  /.  c,  the  sentence  reads : 
Nnn  D^iyb  pK'np  nrn  D^iyn  dj."* 

The  Arabic  Humanists  often  conceive  of  the  body  also 
as  a  covering,  as  the  outside  protection  of  something  more 
precious  that  is  placed  within.  Thus  they  frequently  com- 
pare the  soul  in  the  body  to  an  embryo  in  the  mother's 
womb,  the  chick  in  the  t^g,  the  pearl  in  the  shell,  or  the 


**  Comp.  Dukes,  Beitrage,  II,  103,  addition  to  p.  56  (in  Steinschneider's 
Hebr.  Obersetsungen,  867,  n.  117,  erroneously  "36"),  who  refers  to  a 
similar    conception    in    the    Hitopadesa. 

*^  The  Brethren  of  Purity  attribute  the  sentence  to  the  Prophet;  see 
Dieterici,   Anthropologic,    144;    Steinschneider,   Hebr.   Bibliogr.,   XIII,    13,    n.    8. 

«^  pns  »iT«a,  218:  utrn  ]jn  pB'Kin  idno  Nin  ntn  DSij;n.     The    words 

pt^NI  and  'JC  refer  to  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  whom  the  author  had 
described  in  the  preceding  pages,  (iazzali  and  IJan  §addik  seem  to  have 
escaped    the    notice    of    Steinschneider,    /.    c. 

^  The  older  editions  have  corruptedly  I'O'O  nj»  for  I'On  ]nj? .  while 
ed.  Lemberg,  149,  bottom,  has  ]'0Xf3n  1CN01  J'O'n  IIDJ,*  which  gives  no  sense 
at  all. 

«'  So  also  in  ;u«n  n^,  /.  c. 

**  In  this  form  the  sentence  was  made  use  of  by  Ibn  ITabib,  /.  c.  22  a, 
top,  where,  however,  the  word  t3J  and,  perhaps,  also  a  reference  to  the 
source  were  omitted  in  print,  rendering  the  passage  unintelligible;  see  ib., 
26a,  33b  (see  above,  p.  469,  note  56)  where  two  other  sentences  taken  from 
Ibn  ^isdai   are   introduced   by  v'?B'02   D3nn   (nO«03)   nON   1M1. 


472  THE   JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

man  in  the  garment."  The  comparison  of  the  soul  with 
an  embryo  is  not  merely  the  creation  of  a  fertile  imagina- 
tion but  part  of  a  well  defined  system.  According  to  these 
authors,  when  the  individual  soul  is  sent  down  from  heaven, 
where  she  was  at  one  with  the  universal  soul,  to  join  the 
human  body,  she  is  made  to  forget  the  wisdom  that  was 
hers    in    the    former    abode,^*     She    must    now    regain  it 

"  'Ihwan,  599:  -^J\  4J>C  l:J^\  ^yj\  clJ>  il-^Vl  .!_• 
jjrj,!*-  4,»_»JLil_J  ■?-  (ui.  The  following  is  a  collection  of  metaphors  given 
by  the  authors  under  the  superscription  Jt^^|»  ^al)\  i\  ^l— llllU  l3 
(on     the     similitudes    of     soul    and  body)    ib.,    195:    J^,^^L       'yJ^V  j'il 

;.;U^  ^\  iiV^  A-J-^J  viiSll^  ^'^\  llJ^^  JU-^lj 
^_^*l-.    ^jJi^W    P\^-^*      -^-=^^J     /"'^     CT^^      sj,^'^^    A-.i-tj 

<_-J_^~-^j    *J'  }**    ir*^"        k.l'iojl     ^^^^J    \>»  Jb     ioj''       I'''''    brevity's 

sake  I  give  only  the  contrasts:  embryo  —  womb,  boy  —  school, 
inhabitant  —  habitation,    rider   —   beast,    captain    —   vessel,    king   —    subject, 

artisan   —    (his)    shop,    workman  —  material,   master  —  pupil  ;   "and   in 

proportion  as  the  body  grows  old  and  decrepit,  the  soul  grows  young  and 
vigorous";  comp.  Dieterici,  Logik,  142,  Macrocosmos,  97,  Microcosmos,  184, 
Naturanschauung,    83. 

*'  That  the  soul  is  deprived  of  her  previous  knowledge  when  entering  this 
world  is  taught  already    in    the    Talmud,    Niddah    306:      HoS     'nSoit     '1     t^lT 

qiDo  t2'3oi]  ncixi  icKi  Sj?  iS  pi'?T  *iii  ...  Scipor  Dpjc'?  ia«  'yD2  T^m^  ^h^r\ 
□Sii'n    imnS  ksc  JV31  ...  nSa    minn    Sa    imn  inaSoi  ...  ibid  nyi  oSiyn 

...nSa  niinn  S3  inStrOl  ve  Sj?  nmOl  K2  InSd.  The  anonymous  author  of 
the  Kitab  ma'&ni  al-nafs,  who  wrote  under  the  influence  of  the  Brethren  of 
Purity,  refers  very  often  to  this  passage  in  support  of  this  (Platonic)  theory; 
comp.   Goldziher's    notes  on   pp.   28,   56,   62    of    that    work,     where    numerous 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUL  AND   BODY — MALTER       473 

through  her  own  efforts  in  her  earthly  career.  At  the 
outset  of  her  career  on  earth  she,  therefore,  resembles  the 
embryo  awaiting  development  and  perfection.  The  em- 
bryonic soul,  in  virtue  of  her  divine  origin,  naturally  seeks 
to  repossess  herself  of  the  lost  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
grandeur,  which  she  can  accomplish  only  through  con- 
stant application  to  study  and  search  after  truth  (avauvTiat^) , 
Here,  however,  she  meets  with  the  stubborn  resistance  of 
her  earthly  companion.  In  his  low  passions  and  desires 
he  tries  to  divert  her  from  the  right  path  and  to  drag  her 
into  the  mire  of  worldly  pleasures.  If  she  is  strong  enough 
to  withstand  the  temptations  and  subdues  the  enemy,  mak- 
ing him  subservient  to  her  higher  aims,  she  fulfills  her 
mission  on  earth,  and  on  the  day  of  death,  departing  from 
the  body,  she  returns  to  her  celestial  home,  where,  in  re- 
ward of  her  long  struggles  and  sufferings,  she  is  admitted 
to  the  galaxy  of  angels  that  surround  the  throne  of  God. 
The  death  of  the  body  is,  therefore,  the  birth  of  the  soul,** 
the  final  act  in  the  evolution  from  embryo  to  full  maturity. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  soul  yields  to  the  seductions  of 
the  body,  neglects  her  higher  duties,  and  indulges  in  sensual 
desires,  she  has  failed  in  the  purpose  for  which  she  was 
sent.    On  departing  from  the  body  she  is  denied  admittance 


parallels  from  Arabic  sources  are  given,  to  which  the  Pseudo-Theology  of 
Aristotle,  edited  by  Dieterici,  Leipzig  1882,  p.  95  f.,  may  be  added;  see  also 
the  work  'jsn  np2K,  part  III,  c.  2,  ed.  Warsaw  1876,  p.  42;  Jellinek,  Bet 
ha-Midrash,   I,    154. 

*°  6azzali  who  did  not  care  much  for  the  Brethren  of  Purity  and  once 
stigmatized  them  as  the  lowest  class  of  philosophic  popularizers  (comp. 
Goldziher,  REJ.,  XL,IX,  160),  labors  under  the  same  conceptions.  In  his 
Ethics,  219,  he  clearly  says:  r»3t?  mS  Kin  mori;  comp.  the  long  parable  in 
Palquera's   CpaQ     45,   and    Steinschneider,   Hebr.    tJbersetsungen,   40,    n.   281. 


474  THE  JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

to  the  heavenly  spheres  and  doomed  to  eternal  wanderings 
between  heaven  and  earth.'" 

These  ideas  are  not  original  with  the  Brethren  of 
Purity.  They  are  of  common  occurrence  in  Neo-Platonic 
literature.  Various  Jewish  writers,  some  even  older  than 
the  authors  of  the  Encyclopaedia,  move  along  the  same 
lines.  What  is  of  special  interest  to  us  here  is  that  even 
the  similes  themselves,  peculiar  as  they  are,  were  made 
use  of  by  Jewish  writers.  Thus  in  Bahya's  Duties,  III 
9,  we  read :  nnsxn  p  nvun  nS'Spai  n^in  p  n-'^K's  Iod  Dni 
which  is  literally  the  same  as  quoted  above  from  the  works 
of  the  'Ihwan."  For  the  contrast  of  schoolboy  and  school 
I  do  not  know  of  any  direct  parallel  in  Jewish  literature." 
The  underlying  idea,    however,  namely    that   the    soul    was 


'"  The  thought  is  also  familiar  in  the  Talmud;   comp.   Shabbat    iS2b:    S'JH 

D'yci  hvi  ...  main  kD3  nnn  nmij  o'pn:?  Str  inotr:  idis  itj?'Sx  h 
oSiyn  qiDs  *ioij?  "inK  -[nSdi  □Sij.'n  eiiD2  noiy  nns  ■i«'?oi)   nnSim    moon 

(ntS  nt  inOCi  ]^V^pm;  comp.  also  Sifre,  HWi,  4°.  DHiB,  139;  Kohel.  rab., 
3,  21;  Saadia,  Einunot,  ed.  Cracow,  137  (whose  version  of  the  passage  agrees 
more  with  Abot  dirabbi  Nathan,  c.  12),  and  especially  Goldziher,  Kitab,  53  f.. 
notes  on  pp.  65,  66,  who  quotes  also  Isaac  Israeli  (end  of  ninth  century) 
and  passages  from  the  Zohar.  See  also  Schdrr,  |'lSnn,  VIII,  19.  The  last 
pages  of  Ibn  ?addik's  ]t2p  dSiJ?  are  devoted  to  the  presentation  of  this  theory; 
see  Horovitz,  Psychologic,  198  ff.  It  should  be  noticed  that  in  "iSon  'D 
Ttim,  c.  35,  the  same  views  are  expounded  by  the  Dervish  to  the  docile  Prince. 

jedaiah,   dSij?   d^'hs  ,  c.  14    (cnn    Dno    nniSj,*3   ncK    D'Sano   n'n'ncD 

mS'T  nVfinriS)  may  also  be  referred  to;  comp.  Ibn  yabib,  ad  locum.  The 
whole  matter  is  closely  connected  with  the  theory  of  the  pre-mundane  exist- 
ence of  the  soul;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Die  Haggada  bet  den  Kirchenv'dtern,  Berlin 
1900,  p.  23,  36;  Goldziher,  /.  c,  49. 

"  See  the  Arabic  text  just  quoted;  Dieterici,  Anihropologgie,  17,  44, 
126. 

'^  For  the  metaphor  man  and  garment  see  above,  p.  463,  note  26,  the 
quotation  from  Palquera's  tTpSO  and  p.  465,  note  35,  the  quotation  from 
nT1«  mon    (Aquinas). 


PERSONIFICATIONS   OF  SOUIv  AND   BODY — MALTER       475 

sent  down  to  this  world  for  study  and  introspection,  so 
as  to  merit  by  her  own  efforts  the  reward  that  is  intended 
for  her  in  the  world  to  come,  is  taught  also  by  Jewish 
philosophers." 

Of  a  more  general  character  is  the  conception  of  the 
body  as  a  cloud  obstructing  the  light  of  the  sun  (soul)"  and 
can  be  met  with  in  various  forms  also  in  the  works  of 
Jewish  authors."  Special  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  personi- 
fication of  the  soul  as  a  dove  which  is  ensnared  in  the 
mazes  of  the  body.'*  A  similar  idea  is  expressed  by  the 
author  of  the  commentary  on  Canticles,  in  Steinschneider's 
festschrift,  texts,  p.  50, 1.  6  from  below :  lins'^n  nnK'  xni^noi 
^JQDN  'bx  Kn3"iNJ  3N"iii^Ki  xnnnn  nxiji  xnpis  diinis  pn  fioDiriD 
rna  nn  mini  "bys*  "^x  Diisnbxi.  "The  soul  is  compar- 
able to  a  dove  which  is  placed  between  a  peacock  that  is 
above  her  and  a  raven  that  is  under  her,  the  latter  pulling 
her  repeatedly  downward  and  the  former  upward."" 

In  conclusion  it  must  be  stated  that  while  in  nearly 
all  the  instances  discussed  above  the  Jewish  authors  appear 
to  have  followed  Arabic  models,  there  is  a  considerable 
number  of  metaphors  scattered  in  haggadic  and  midrashic" 

'*  The  authors  are  too  numerous  to  be  quoted.  Saadia  expounds  this 
idea  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  Emitnot;  comp.  Horovitz,  Psychologie,  45  f., 
particularly   Goldziher,    Kitab,   47    f. 

'*  Dieterici,    Anthropologie,    131    f. 

"  Comp.    Baljya,    Duties,    VIII,    3,    14th    Meditation:     njcn     JO    TIN    f'pH 

'1D1  riXtn,  which  is  entirely  in  the  style  of  the  'Iffwan;  the  commentary  on 
Canticles,  /.  c,  50,  1.  8,  from  bottom,  56,  1.  14  ff. ;  Pseudo-Empedocles  in 
Kaufmann's  Studien   liber  Salomon  Ibn   Gabirol,  22,  top:    mil?  XTItf  CSan  103 

'"  Discussed  by  Goldziher,  Kitab,  49  f. ;  Der  Islam,  I,  25.  The  simile 
quoted  above,  p.  464,  note  30,  is  conceived  under  another  aspect  and  does  not 
belong   here. 

"  Comp.   fCohel,   rab.   2,    14,    §   2. 

"  See   Levit.   rab.,   4,    §    8. 


476  THE    JEWISH    QUARTERLY    REVIEW 

literature,  which  seem  to  have  originated  with  the  Jews. 
A  collection  of  these  similes,  however,  was  not  within  the 
scope  of  the  present  article.  Only  a  few  that  bear  some 
semblance  to  similes  treated  already  may  be  pointed  out  in 
passing.  Thus  in  Levit.  rah.,  34,  §  3,  it  is  reported  of  Hillel 
that  when  he  left  his  disciples  he  used  to  say  that  he  is 
going  to  attend  to  his  guest  in  the  house.  On  being  asked 
whether  he  is  troubled  with  guests  every  day  he  answered. 
Is  not  that  poor  soul  a  guest  in  the  body?  to-day  she  is 
here,  to-morrow  she  may  be  gone." 

Mediaeval  authors  often  allude  to  the  soul  as  a  bird  kept 

prisoner  in  a  cage  or  flying  about  seeking  rest.     A.  similar 

conception  is  found  already  in  Sanh.  92a,  Lcvit,  rah.,  4,  §  5  • 

T'lXi    nmis    minn    iidv  ."'    The    KabbaHsts    designate    the 

"  inoS  xon  x'n  jn  xov  keu  ij2  h'h  s':d3s   inS  KnaiSjr  see:  ]nm 

Xrn  X'n    n'S.       This     passage     bears     strong     resemblance     to     the     popular 

sentence     "I2p2     inOI     JN3     DTH,   which  occurs  in      injni     "[SoH     p  ,   c.   l6, 
and,  curiously  enough,  also  in  a  later  Midrash;  see  Jellinek,  Bet  ha-Midrasch, 

I,   23,   and    Buber,  KmJKT   '"lED,    82. 

*»  Possibly  it  is  this  conception  of  the  soul  as  a  bird  that  underlies 
Ezekiel  13,  18-21;  see  Dudley  (as  above,  note  4),  p.  29,  n.  25,  and  especially 
Steinschneider,  Rangstreit-Literatur,  58,  n.  i,  who  considers  this  conception 
as  the  basis  for  the  custom  to  open  a  window  at  the  moment  of  a  person's 
death,  so  that  the  soul  may  fly  out.  Prof.  Ginzberg  refers  me  to  the  Midrash 
on     Psalms,     ed.     Buber,     p.      102:     nStrSci   D'BiS  SyS  3Jn  ^03     HOn   HOCJ 

oSiya  riD'jjiB'Oi    inotr:  nxxv  jc  mxtrai    mntrn  mna    nnSni  iS;n2  micp 

nxn  mXC  mOlSnn  )n  ]m  (comp.  also  Jellinek,  Bet  ha-Midrasch. 
V,  45,  and  p.  XXI,  top).  Here  the  soul  appears  as  a  kind  of 
flying  locust,  or  a  grasshopper,  a  figure  which  may  be  of  Greek 
origin;  see  e.  g.  Plato's  Phaedrus,  248  E;  Pseudo-Theology  of  Aristotle, 
10,  Dieterici's  German  translation,  198.  The  Greek  rjivxy  means  also 
butterfly,  which,  because  of  its  rising  from  the  larva,  may  have  been 
taken  as  a  symbol  of  life  and  immortality.  The  Kabbalist  Eleazar  of  Worms 
(thirteenth  century)  in  his  work  irEJn  nosn ,  which  was  published  anony- 
mously (Lemberg  1876),  refers  to  this  Midrash  by  3inD  ^nXVO ;  see  ib., 
id  (C'BiD  nS  B"!  mOC?  'n  nS  V<  trean)  and  6b.  The  work,  to  which 
Prof.  Schcchter  called  my  attention,  is  a  fantastic  glorification  of  the  soul, 
interspersed  with  kabbalistic  mysteries  which  yield  but  little  for  our  purpose; 
comp.   Steinschneider,  Hebr.   Bibliogr.,   XVII,  53;   Briill,  Jahrbiicher,  V,   198. 


PERSONIJ^ICATIONS   OF  SOUL   AND   BODY — MALTER       477 

souls  as  "holy  birds  that  fly  about  chirping  and  praying  for 
the  holy  people  of  Israel."  Thus  the  Zohar  in  a  lengthy 
exposition  on  the  subject  (section  pbn,  p.  392)  interprets 
the  verse  n"'3  nsVD  IIDV  DJ  (Ps.  84,  4)  as  referring  to  the 
souls  of  the  righteous  that  find  shelter  in  the  most  hidden 
palace  of  the  divine  presence  which  is  called  "1IQV  }p".  On 
certain  days  of  the  year,  particularly  in  the  months  of 
Nisan  and  Tishri,  these  souls  leave  their  holy  retreat  every 
morning  and,  fluttering  above  the  various  divisions  of 
paradise,  praise  the  Lord  and  pray  for  the  life  of  all 
mankind.^'  Jedaiah  ha-Penini,  oSiy  DJ^na,  c.  15  says: 
pjvn  TiD  ■'T'2  mit^'p  ma^^jn  -nD"'^*  ma  ins  x-ni,  and  Zerahiah 
ha-Yevv'ani,  n::"n  'D,  c.  12  beginning:  f\)]}:i  ...noKOn  •'3  ym 
ijp  ^x  31C'"'  dSo'  -iK'sai  rniVD2  C'srun.*^  The  metaphor  was 
common,  however,  also  among  the   Arabs.     The  historian 


"  np'N  xSaTi  Kinni  inhT  d'hSk  nriN-i  nh  ]'";i  t'jj  xnn    KT012  xSs'n 

»=  Nnc'2  n'N  ;'0'tr'"i  ;'avi  ...  K»pnxn  pn^nn  pSn  n'2  ns^^a  iibs  dj 
KnjJT  jnitr  oj  Sj?  iTnnxi  ...  p^co  pnn  jij'st  ntr'n  «ovi  ;d«:  'ov  ;i:'xi 
Kn3K«    NEii'E:?  Kinm    siE!{i    N1BV  '?D3    ;e:{eso    I'-iExn   n'n3   nm  nn  Sa 

SoSj?  \srn  Xtt'J  '33  "n  Sy  «m'?i*1  n^npn.  This  passage  of  the  Zohar  is  the 
basis  for  an  Aramaic  prayer  in  the  Polish  ritual,  provided  for  the  first  twelve 
days    of    Nisan    (D'S'B'jn    '0'),    which    I    used    to    recite    as    a   boy    and    which 

reads  as  follows:  pcnp  iTioci  h^;  h^irt  inDHS  Dvn  I'KnB'  ...  pxi  'n» 
j;"»2i  .'?N"it5"  Ktynp  Noy  '^j?  j'sSsoi  pnntfm  ]»esbsoi  jnEV3  ptrmnon 
D'n'jK  nnsT  «S  ]»:;  n^Sj?  -lon'Ni  Ntrnp  NinxS    'cnp  nes  -i:n  S^'i'm  D'jsn 

'131  "inSlT.  Zunz  remarks  somewhere  that  the  Jews  sometimes  sing  logic,  lament 
in  mathematics,  and  pray  metaphysics.  The  above  prayer  may  serve  as  an 
illustration    of    the   latter    part. 

»'  An  epigram  in  "injni  "iSoH  p,  c.  5,  end,  reads:  im  im3  'Sips  'Hn 
*im  n'?  nX^fOI  D^Om  laCJ  nSI  pie,  but  this  is  perhaps  only  an  allusion 
to   Ps.    124,   7. 


478  THE   JEWISH    QUARTERLY   REVIEW 

Al-Mas'udi"  relates  of  the  pre-Islamitic  Arabs  that  they 
believed  the  soul  was  a  bird  living  in  the  human  body,  and 
that  when  a  person  dies  the  soul  continues  to  flutter  about 
the  grave  and  to  bewail  the  death  of  its  former  compan- 
ion. 

Highly  poetical  is  the  portraiture  of  man  as  a  lamp 
enkindled  by  the  Torah  which  is  a  spark  of  God,  the  body 
representing  here  the  wick,  while  the  soul  is  compared  to 
the  oil."'  So  Jedaiah,  /.  c,  c.  15,  beginning:  2n^  N''n  minn 
1VJ  nix  nin)^  np'inii  vpbn  ':^2  nnxni  n-oK'n  ■'nt^'v^  a^nt'o  TiDn?D 
1^3  n'an  xbnn"'  moxni  Dnoaonn  "it  nn  ptr  inot:':  nSnsj  nS^riQ 
mix.  The  same  metaphor  is  used  by  Zerahiah  ha-Yewani, 
"^'''n  'D,  c.  5,  as  the  sixth  of  his  proofs  for  reward  and 
punishment  in  the  hereafter/"  Of  a  somewhat  similar  nature 
is  the  exposition  of  the  author  of  the  commentary  on 
Canticles,  who  drew  upon  Mohammedan  sources :  D^yn 
nn^N  xn^Q  -id:''Q  nS^na^^x  niiy  nh^x  xn-'S  psn"'  "ribx  hdojSx  jx 
xo  i:v  DZiiba  l^is  jxidSx  ^yt"D  ixjbx  nb'risSx  "'S  iar  xo  nat' 
psbx  npi  ilDDj!^xa  pbynn.  "Know  that  the  sperm  in  which 
the  embryo  assumes  existence  is  to  be  compared  to  a  wick 
and  that  the  spirit  is  l)lown  into  the  former  just  as  the  fire 
is  communicated  to  the  latter,  so  that  the  lamp  burns ;  this 


**  Les  Prairies  d'or,  III,  310;  comp.  Derenburg  in  Geiger's  Jiidische 
Zeitschrift,  VI,  293.  The  idea  that  the  soul  mourns  over  the  dead  body  is 
common  also  in  rabbinical  literature;  comp.  b.  Shabbat  1520,  bottom, 
especially  p.  Yebamot,  c.  16,  §  3;  see  also  113nn  'D  of  Berechiah  ha-NaVdan, 
edited   by   Gollancz,    Eondon    1902,    p.    50. 

"*  Comp.  Shem  Job  Ibn  Shcm  T"b,  the  commentator  of  Maimonides' 
Guide,    niCm,   section    niVn .   end:     CNHty     MK1   ]2h>    ...  WBiS    TOT     JDBTI    «3 

niri'nc  Sao  -ny:  n^n^  ;Qtrni  nS^ncn  «inc. 

"*   For    other    similes   of    this    author    sec    ih.,   end    of   c.    1. 


PERSONIFICATIONS    OF  SOUL    AND    BODY — MALTER       479 

is  what  takes  place  when  the  soul  joins  the  sperm  at  the 
time  of  coming  into  existence."" 

Bahya's  representation  of  the  evil  spirit  as  a  spider 
that  spreads  its  network  around  the  window  gradually  ob- 
structing the  light  of  the  sun,*'  and,  likewise,  his  comparison 
of  the  soul  with  an  unpolished  metallic  plate  which  be- 
comes bright  by  friction,'"  seem  to  be  of  Arabic  origin, 
though  I  do  not  know  the  source  at  present. 

Of  doubtless  Jewish  origin  is  the  symbolical  descrip- 
tion of  the  human  body  and  its  organs  as  paralleling  the 
Tabernacle  and  its  various  vessels.  Already  in  the  New 
Testament  the  body  is  called  tabernacle  (II  Cor.  5,  i.  4; 
Pet.  I,  13-14)  ;  Jewish  mediaeval  authors  took  up  the  idea 
showing  the  correspondence  in  detail.  The  sources  are 
rather  numerous  and  require  special  treatment.'^ 

*^  Steinschneider    Festschrift,    51,    bottom;    comp.    Kiisari,    II,    26:        CCjni 

nS'riBn   cxia  anSn    ncpna  12  iB'p'B'  ...  »y2a    on  mi2  dn  <3  lannn  nh; 

so  also  Dunash  Ibn  Tamini  in  his  commentary  on  the  book  m'^'  ,  London 
1902,   p.   71,   bottom. 

*'  Duties,   VIII,    3,    14th   Meditation;   comp.   b.    Sukkah    520. 

«»  lb.,    VIII,    4. 

*"  See  Kiisari,  II,  26  (comp.  above  p.  462)  and  the  reference  given  by 
Cassel  (2)  ad  locum,  p.  129;  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  on  Exod.,  26,  i,  and 
especially  Steinschneider,  Hebr.  (Jbersetcungen,  997,  n.  i.  Some  of  the 
references  in  that  note  are  misprinted.  Numerous  parallels  between  the 
vessels  of  the  Tabernacle  and  organs  of  the  human  body  will  be  found  in  the 
Ktyin    tmn,   ed.  Jellinek,  Bet  ha-Midrasch,   III,   175   f. 


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